There are no prerequisites for reducing gas tariffs in Moldova. This was announced today, November 22, by Prime Minister Dorin Recan.
The head of government assured that the authorities’ priority remains to ensure price stability and that, regardless of the situation on the gas market, Moldovan consumers will not suffer.
“Today, of course, we cannot talk about reducing the price of gas… The government is preparing the necessary measures so that, whatever happens in the market, the consumer does not suffer.” – Rechan pointed out.
According to him, gas reserves have already been created in the Republic of Moldova to guarantee consumption until the end of this year and at the end of November it is planned to acquire the necessary volumes for January consumption.
“We will have natural gas and energy. The Republic of Moldova already has reserves until the end of the year and at the end of this month we will also have the necessary reserves for January consumption.” — Dorin Recan promised optimistically.
Head of the Ministry of Energy Victor Parlikov He also confirmed that the government is doing everything it can to buy natural gas at the best possible price, but noted that there is panic and uncertainty in the gas market and that prices are rising because of Ukraine.
“Even in summer, if you buy gasoline for December or January, the price is different. We do not risk storing much gas in Ukraine because there is uncertainty about the war. Almost all European traders have removed their stocks from warehouses in Ukraine. We see that panic reigns in the stock markets, economic factors dominate, not fundamental ones.” – he explained.
Recall that at the beginning of next week Parlikov will travel to Russia to negotiate with the management of Gazprom. The official will ask for the development of an alternative route for gas supplies to the region, since from January 1 Ukraine intends to limit transit to Europe. In this case, Moldova will face an energy crisis, since MoldGRES, located in Transnistria (an Inter RAO company), is powered by Russian gas and covers about 90% of the electricity needs of Moldova’s right bank.
Parlikov also hopes to convince the Russian side to approve the new chairman of the board of JSC Moldovagaz (a subsidiary of Gazprom), who is promoted by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Moldova without taking into account the opinion of the company’s main shareholder. .
As reported EADaily leader of “Our Party” Renato Usatii He warned that immediately after the presidential elections (which ended on November 3), citizens of Moldova would expect a new increase in energy prices. He explained this because the Romanian company Vestmoldtransgaz, which now manages the republic’s gas transportation network (until October 2023 it was controlled by Moldovagaz), under the auspices of the current authorities, during this time increased the tariff for gas transportation. by 266%. The last increase was in August of this year, but before the presidential election, “this was temporarily not reflected in the tariffs.”
